An Eye on the Horizon
by Emerald Grace
Summary: In a quest to save Will from an eternity as the captain of the Flying Dutchman, Elizabeth, Jack, and Will set out to find a certain fountain and find themselves in the middle of a fight none of them saw coming.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This takes place right as Pirates 3 leaves off, so if you haven't seen that movie yet and don't want any spoilers, DO NOT continue!!! This chapter is also a little bit short, but it's just the intro...the next couple will definitely be longer.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean (although that would be nice), and I certainly don't own Jack, Will, Elizabeth, or any of the characters for the movies. The story, however, is of my creation, as are any non-canon characters or things.

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**Chapter One**

_A Pirate's Life for Me_

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Three days. 

Three sunrises, three sunsets, three mornings, three afternoons, seventy two empty hours.

Only nine years and three hundred and sixty two days left until he saw his Elizabeth again.

Will watched as the _Dutchman_ drew closer to a wreck that had only minutes ago been just a speck on the horizon. In the capable hands of Bill Turner at the wheel and experienced crew on the deck, the ship always made good time…just when Will was wishing they could go a bit slower. He hated seeing the dead souls, hated looking into the faces of men who'd died far too young, leaving wives and children behind them.

The ship was a member of the Spanish Armada from the looks of things, probably blown off course by a nasty storm that'd crept up on them unexpectedly. It looked as though in all of the tossing and turning, something had ignited the barrels of gunpowder that had no doubt been stored underneath the deck--a stray candle, perhaps. Now all that was left was a sea of splintered, burned wood and the bodies of dead men floating in the abyss.

"Sailors, bring them onboard," he said in the tone Elizabeth had once nicknamed his 'Captain's' voice. The crew immediately began helping the dead souls aboard, and Will could not help but get a sick feeling in his stomach as he took in the hideously burned faces of the unfortunate crew. _How did a poor, orphaned blacksmith end up with this job?_ he wondered to himself.

"_Por favor, seňor_. Is this the afterlife?" a young man in a uniform that had no doubt been a fine one asked in an accent thick as butter.

"This is the Flying Dutchman," Will answered, his voice flat. He hated saying that.

Immediately the dead crew froze, but even after just three days, Will was used to this. The legend of Davy Jones and his evil crew still haunted every seaman, and when a sailor heard the name _Dutchman,_ a shiver automatically rolled down his spine. Word that Jones was dead had not yet spread, and sailors automatically assumed that the famous ghost ship was still under his command.

He raised his hands. "You have no reason to fear. Davy Jones is dead…I am the new captain, William Turner. Our duty is to ferry the souls lost at sea into the next life."

Slowly the rest of the crew boarded and were shown below deck, their faces distraught as they began to cope with the fact that they were, in fact, dead. They glanced nervously at the fleet of small boats that trailed the _Dutchman_, each carrying a soul lost to the sea. Will turned to Wyvern.

"How much time until sunset?"

The newly restored crewman consulted an old pocket watch and then the sun. "I'd say about ten minutes, Captain."

Will nodded, and then turned to his father. "Sail for the western horizon, then."

"Aye, Captain."

He turned to address his crew. "Back to your duties, men." They were working overtime to try and make the Dutchman a proper ship once more—it had suffered under the rule of Jones, and although it would sail no matter what (supernatural things had a habbit of doing that), Will had decreed that no ship of his would sail in such a sorry state.

The men returned to their duties and Will returned to his post at the rear of the ship, staring off into the distance behind them.

"Still thinking about her, son?" Bill Turner's voice was quiet, as he was careful to pay Will the proper respect as Captain in front of the men.

Will nodded and put a hand over the place where his heart had once sat, now simply an empty space underneath the angry red scar. He was happy to be alive, or whatever he was, but to have been brought back to life only to be tied to a ship that ferried the dead and the damned to the next life, to be torn away from the girl he had loved to oblivion since he was twelve years old, made him unsure if this half life that he led was truly worth it.

"You'll get used to it in time."

Will shook his head, but didn't say anything. "Was it hard when you left Mother?"

Bill shrugged. "Truth be told, I was never at home on the land, and she was never at home on the sea. I missed her, of course, but I've always believed that my true love was the sea."

As much as he liked sailing, Will couldn't relate to that at all. A ship was a ship and a good thing to have, but his true love waited in a place he could never go. An upperclass lady with money to take care of herself usually died when she was forty or fifty…that meant that he would only be able to see her two or three more times in this life. No, he couldn't think of that. It was too painful.

Sensing his son's dismay, Bootstrap reached back and patted him on the shoulder. As nice as it was to be comforted, it didn't help at all.

_I cannot live_ _like this._

* * *

"Raise the sails! I want to see every inch of canvas that we've got!" 

Her crew, no doubt, believed her to be mad, but Elizabeth had not gone from useless gentlewoman to King of Pirates in the space of one year for nothing. They followed her orders quickly and efficiently as they chased after an East India ship heading to her hometown of Port Royal.

At first, Elizabeth hadn't been sure about her career as a true pirate. Stealing from the innocent had never been something that she wished to do—adventures were what she wanted, yes, but not at the expense of others who did not deserve it. However, she'd quickly discovered that nothing took her mind off of a certain William Turner quite as well as a good fight, and East India ships would generally shoot at them anyway, so she felt no qualms in chasing one or two of them down a month. Normally they just carried tea or sugar, nothing as exciting as shiny gold pieces, but that could be sold for a good profit at ports like Nassau and St. Augustine, so Elizabeth had decided that that'd be the best course they could take.

It took about five minutes to overtake the East India ship and less than that to take it over. The captain was a starched and pompous military man who scoffed at the sight of a girl captain trying to take over a great British ship. She'd wiped the smirk off of his powdered face with a sword straight through the heart.

A sword through the heart.

Elizabeth reflected on this as her men rounded up the swag from below deck. A few of the remaining crew members had elected to join the pirate ship, the rest had been given a small boat and enough water and food to last five days.

Will had been killed when his own blade had been driven straight into his heart. She remembered how scarcely two years ago he'd been laboring in his master's forge, creating beautiful swords for people like Norrington and getting none of the credit. Maybe if they'd stayed like that, he'd be standing right next to her now. No, that wasn't true. She'd always suspected that Will had loved her, for she'd always felt the same way about him, but without the adventure that they'd ended up on, she knew that she would have ended up married to a man like Norrington, stuffed into a corset and doing needlepoint all day. But Will…how had it come to this?

It'd been three days since she last saw him, walking out into the sunset to meet his new ship and new destiny. He wasn't fully alive now, but nor was he dead. He was immortal, which sounded strange even in her head. He would stay as young as ever, while she grew old. She'd see him maybe two or three times before she died, but that would be it. They wouldn't be like normal husbands and wives, who had houses and children and family to be with—they would never even be together. Would he still love her when he still appeared to be a young man, and she was old with wrinkles and white hair? She didn't want to think about the answer to that. Nevertheless, she'd guard the chest that contained his heart with her life.

She couldn't live with this. It felt as though it had been her heart that'd been ripped clean out of her body. Everything from the sun on the horizon to the sound of boots walking on the firm planks of her ship reminded her of him. His face was constantly swimming before her…how had she ever believed that she might in fact be in love with Jack instead? How had Will ever believed it?

"Er…Captain?"

Elizabeth snapped back to reality. "Oh, yes. What have we got?"

"Well…quite a bit of sugar. Some fabric, too."

The era of treasure ships roaming the Caribbean was long past. They were down to petty items like calico and foodstuffs.

Elizabeth nodded. "Bring it aboard, along with the new acquisitions. I'll set a course to St. Augustine, and maybe we'll sell some amongst the islands that we pass along the way."

She headed back to the ship, her earlier thoughts echoing in her mind.

_I cannot go on like this._

She stared out onto the horizon as the crew heaved in the anchors and the ship began slipping smoothly through the water once again.

Who was she?  
She was Elizabeth Turner, and the Turner family didn't just accept their destinies.

They made their own.

She was a Turner now, and she was not about to give up on her husband, accepting the notion of seeing him just once every ten years. She remembered a favorite expression of her mother: "Where there's a will, there's a way." Well, she had a will. Now she just had to find a way.

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**Author's Note:** That's it for this chapter. I know that this one didn't have Jack in it, but don't worry, he's coming up soon 


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thank you so so so much to all of my reviewers!!! You guys are the best! Here's the next chapter for you guys (I'll admit that this isn't exactly my favorite chapter, but it had to be written to go along with the story).

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**Chapter Two**

_It's a Small World After All_

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_There was an island...such a nice pretty island. There were palm trees, the sea, and, of course, rum. The Black Pearl was anchored just off shore, its crew standing by at the ready to take his orders. He could sail anywhere, do anything. With the Black Pearl, he was no man's man. He grabbed a few extra bottles of rum, which happened to be waiting conveniently on the sand, then got into a small row boat and pushed off the shore towards the Pearl. He gave once last parting wave to the slim beautiful woman waving her handkerchief (he'd promised, of course, to come back to her...unlikely), then set his face towards the horizon and his beloved ship._

_The smell of tar and sea salt began to burn his nostrils and the murmuring of drunken sailors suddenly surrounded him. That was funny...in his dream world, he was most certainly the only one on his little boat._

And then Captain Jack Sparrow woke up.

He was below deck on a ship that had most definitely seen better days. He slept in a hammock, surrounded by a crew of men who smelled as though they'd all had more rum than their stomachs could take. Wrinkling his nose at the rancid smell, Jack sat up and tried to gather his thoughts. The room was disturbingly clear and his thoughts focused...he was, for once, sober and wasn't exactly enjoying it.

While his original plans had been to take his small sail boat on his quest for the Fountain of Youth, Jack had quickly reevaluated his plan after experiencing just one day at sea with naught but a half empty bottle of rum. Luckily for him, sometime during his second day at sea, a merchant ship happened to pass by. It flew the colors of that bloody East India Trading Company, but Jack was nothing if he wasn't a born actor. He quickly stowed away his own flag that declared him a pirate and fabricated a brilliant story about how his ship had run up against a reef--the rest of his crew had, of course, drowned, leaving him the only survivor, with just a lone boat and a bottle of rum.

There were many large and obvious holes in his tale, but the pompous prick who apparently ran the ship had lost a few too many crew members to scurvy and was in desperate need of some help. Jack had been assigned to scrubbing the decks, a task which the slippery pirate quickly delegated onto someone else as he sat on his hammock down below and pieced together a plan for taking over the ship.

That plot had led him to now. He planned on sneaking up on the captain in the man's sleep, threatening him with a mutiny, and then...

"PIRATES!!"

The cry came from the deck above and instantly everyone was awake. The captain rushed passed Sparrow, unaware that the disguised pirate had just seconds ago been planning a mutiny. Jack, however, was fine with this apparent interruption. He worked best in chaos, and a pirate attack on these jumpy, green East India boys would most certainly prove to be just that.

He followed everyone else onto the deck, although, unlike everyone else, he didn't draw his weapon. Instead he pulled the spyglass from his belt and focused it on the ship that was apparently coming straight at them. It was a pirate ship, alright, but it was the colors that intrigued him--the colors of Singapore and Sao Feng. A ghost of a grin crossed Jack's face as the rest of the crew cowered in fear. Sao Feng was dead and sailing the _Empress_ in his place, he was sure, would be none other than the Pirate King herself, Elizabeth Swann, now Mrs. William Turner.

It took about five minutes for the pirates to take over the ship, and Jack quickly aligned himself with the group that appeared to be joining the pirate crew. With his head down and hat off, he passed the inspection of the First Mate and was allowed aboard the ship. Elizabeth appeared to be completely lost in thought and didn't look twice at the incoming crew members, something he would most definitely have to talk to her about later on.

He waited until they were sailing away from the taken ship to approach the new captain. He'd been assigned deck duty once again, but had, as he had before, quickly passed it off onto someone else--he had more pressing matters to attend to. Elizabeth stood at the edge of the ship, staring out into the western horizon, no doubt thinking about the whelp who now traveled beyond that distant, mysterious line.

"Y'know, Mrs. Turner, if I were you, which thankfully, I'm not, I'd be keeping a closer eye on who I'm letting aboard me ship."

Elizabeth jumped and turned in surprise, her hand on her sword. "Jack! Where did you come from?" The hand quickly fell to her side.

Jack grinned. "Sea turtles, love."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed dangerously, warning the pirate that he'd better come out with his entire story if he wanted welcome here.

The pirate shrugged. "I had the misfortune of boarding the Black Pearl with Barbossa on the crew. It took about a day to organize the mutiny, but at least they left me with a boat this time. I had every intention of sailing by me onesie for awhile, but I ran out of rum just as that bloody East India ship was passing, so I jumped on board."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Jack Sparrow, I have no idea how you've managed to survive this long."

Jack smiled cleverly. "You said it yourself, love."

"What?"

"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. I can get out of anything."

Elizabeth's face clouded over. "There are some things I doubt even you could worm your way out of."

Jack knew precisely what she was talking about, but decided not to go along with it for a little while. "Ah, so that ball and chain they call marriage isn't working out for you? Let me tell you, love, there are ways around that. I mean, with a husband gone for ten years at a time, there's no telling what you can do without him knowing."

The look Elizabeth gave him was sour enough to curdle milk. "You know what I meant."

A strange emotion tugged at the edges of Jack's rather twisted and at times misguided heart--it was sympathy. The weathered pirate had died and been brought back to life, but the only love he'd ever experienced was the sort that you got in the arms of a Tortuga wench. His first and only love would always be the sea and his ship, but he couldn't help but empathize with the situation Will and Elizabeth had gotten themselves into. He knew that by letting Will stab the heart, he was effectively starting the world's most long distance relationship, but he'd never stopped to think that maybe a clean break would have been easiest. The rest of their lives would be spent waiting for that one day every ten years, weathering the empty decades for a few fleeting moments.

"Elizabeth..." he began, his expression uncharacteristically sober and serious. "I am sorry about what happened." It was simple and barely encompassed what needed to be said, but it was one of the few sentences he'd ever uttered that he truly, deeply meant. He and Will had stabbed each other in the back (figuratively, of course) more times than he could count, but when it came down to it, Will was the son of one of the few people Jack had ever really respected and that sort of thing couldn't be idly tossed aside. He might be a whelp, but in his rare moments, he was a pretty decent whelp.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, was not able to trust herself to speak, knowing that her words would betray the tears that seemed to constantly be her companion. She stared out at the darkening horizon until she was positive that she had her bearings.

"I'm going to get him back, Jack."

Her words were final and left no room for suggestions, but Jack couldn't resist slipping one in. "Elizabeth, mate, I don't think you've quite gotten the forever part of forever."

She turned to face him, and he tried his best not to cower under her intense glare. He, Captain Jack Sparrow, who had faced the Kraken and Davy Jones himself, found his knees buckling a little under a stubborn woman's gaze...how embarrassing, although, to his credit, Elizabeth Turner had never been your average woman.

"What would happen if the _Dutchman_ was destroyed?"

Jack shook his head. "Well no one really knows for sure, but I've got a notion that if the _Dutchman_ were to go down, so would its entire crew. Their lives are tied to the ship--by rights none of them should be alive."

Elizabeth seemed to deflate a little. She wanted to save Will from an eternity tied to an infernal ship, but she'd didn't want to forfeit his life in the process. "There has to be another way," she murmured, more to herself than to the pirate in front of her.

There was another way. Jack thought of the navigation charts stuffed into the pouch on his belt, the ones that led to the Fountain of Youth. He couldn't be positive, but if the Fountain could give eternal life, it might restore life as well.

_The Immortal Captain Jack Sparrow._ The thought echoed in his head and seemed to immobilize his good intentions.

And so he kept his mouth shut, hardly surprised as his own conscience (what was left of it, anyway) began to hit him over the head.

_Well, hello Guilt. Haven't seen you in awhile..._

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**AN: **And that's the end of another chapter. It's not the best that I've written, but expect some longer chapters and a few plot twists coming up. Thanks for reading...I love you guys!!!! 


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